GOP Sen. Rounds: We'll Need to Raise Debt Ceiling for California Fire Relief

On Monday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) stated that the debt limit will have to be raised in order to provide disaster relief to California.

While discussing potential conditions on aid, Rounds stated, “I think there [are] two other items that have to be factored in: Number one is we’ll have to increase our debt limit in order to borrow the money that will be used to help take care of these individuals. That part hasn’t been discussed, at least not a lot. But I think that’ll be part of the discussion as well.”

Host Blake Burman then asked, “[Y]ou think this is moving in the direction…of aid could be tied to increasing the debt limit?”

Rounds responded, “I think it will have to be because we simply can’t provide the assistance unless we have the ability to borrow the money to do so. And we’ve already reached the debt limit number. And so, at this point, they’re using extraordinary means in order to continue to pay the bills. So, part of the discussion that we will end up having is is if we have to put in perhaps as much as 100 billion dollars or somewhere in that neighborhood, we’ll have to have a way to do that and the debt limit would have to be increased in order to do that. That’s my opinion. But I think that’s a part of the discussion that will have to occur.”

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